Chicken With Plums by Marjane Satrapi

Alright, this is the last graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi that I have. I read Persepolis and immediately took the others out from the library. Chicken with Plums recounts the story of Nasser Ali Khan who is apparently a wonderful tar player. A tar is a string instrument that somewhat resembles a guitar. We never get to hear/see him play the tar, however, because when the story opens his beloved tar has been broken and he is searching for a replacement. The instruments that he auditions do not seem to speak to him as his old instrument did. He becomes depressed and decides that he wants to die. Taken to his bed the graphic novel replays his last week of life. His family attempts to persuade him otherwise but he is determined. While he waits for death to take him, he remembers moments from his childhood, a lost love and his subsequent marriage to his wife, his time as a pupil of the tar, and other moments both bitter and sweet. There is even a visit by Death who has a sense of humor.